Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!

"US girl sues for $1m over arrest for desk scribble"
BBC (April 3, 2010)

"A 12-year-old US schoolgirl is suing the New York City authorities for $1m (£650,000) in damages after she was arrested for writing on her desk.

"Alexa Gonzalez was led out of her school in handcuffs by police after she was caught scribbling a message to her friends with an erasable, green marker.

"Miss Gonzalez and her mother are suing the police and education departments in New York City.

"They are claiming for excessive use of force and violation of her rights.

"Miss Gonzalez was caught scribbling 'I love my friends Abby and Faith' on her desk during a Spanish class in February...."

Well, from a certain point of view, I can see why the school staff wanted to be protected from 'that sort of person.' To their credit, now that they're making international news, school officials are blaming the police.

And this is one of the reasons I decided to give my kids the option of being home schooled from grade 7 up. All of them took me and my wife up on it.

That's right: I'm one of those people. The ones who home school their kids.

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2 comments:

Brigid said...

One thing that had me puzzled was that the girl and her mom (who was not allowed into the police station with her daughter, by the way) have different last names. Then I saw a picture. I'm pretty sure they aren't related by blood.

Cute girl, too. I hope she doesn't become too jaded from this incident.

Brian H. Gill said...

Brigid,

I don't know the family background there - but they may not be. Adoption has been an option for quite a long time. Also, naming conventions: have changed over time; vary from culture; and from even from family to family.

American culture(s) have gone through a lot of change - with no end in sight. Which, in some ways is good news.

I haven't seen photos (and would appreciate a link) - but remember what our family is like. And we're a fairly homogeneous set of Celto-European Americans. If that wasn't a word before: it is now.

Wait another few generations, and our family reunions will look like a U.N. meeting.

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